The Shadow Year: A retrospective view

The Shadow Year was another novel that I felt fell short of its intended purpose. Having not read To Kill a Mockingbird, I have no attachment to the sort of narration that the author used in this work. I understand, after hearing Andy discuss the origins of the novel, that the work was partially autobiographical with fantastic elements thrown in, but that is exactly what they feel like: thrown in. The plot meanders with no sense of urgency, no sense of building suspense, and leads to an ultimately unsatisfying conclusion.